| Psalm 34:1 – “I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.” |
I just finished an excellent book, Radical Listening: The Art of True Connection, by Christian Van Nieuwerburgh and Robert Biswas-Diener. Transformative leaders prioritize what they hear more than what they say. As many have noted, God gave us two ears and one mouth—use proportionately.
Nieuwerburgh and Biswas-Diener offer cutting edge research, yet one statistic really challenged my thinking: The average person will have 28,000 conversations in their lifetime.
That number could be higher or lower based on the following (but not limited to) circumstances:
• Career choice
• Extravert or introvert
• Geographical location
• Gender (I’ll let you guess if males or females skyrocket beyond 28,000)
• Life expectancy
But generally, most of us will engage in at least 28,000 conversations from cradle to grave.
How do you spend the currency of those conversations?
• Positively or negatively?
• Encouragingly or discouragingly?
Even more important, how many of the 28,000 conversations are consumed with Jesus? How many are owned by Kingdom real estate? How many are devoted to glorifying God?
Conversation without the Creator is senseless noise.
The Psalmist said, “I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” (Psalm 34: 1, NIV)
Paul penned, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3: 17, NIV) “Whatever you do” would include 28,000 conversations.
Today you will have conversations. Tomorrow will be no different. How will you spend 28,000 throughout your life?
For the best ROI (Return on Investment), begin and end each one with the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1: 8).
- Jacob Hawk
